The Halloween Spirit
by Liza Mondragon
Summary: Ah, Halloween. A day of costumes, scary stories, and trick-or-treating. However, there is also fear in the air. Pitch has come back, now stronger than ever. The Guardians must now recruit Evie Hallows, Spirit of Halloween, to help them defeat the Nightmare King once and for all. NOT Jack x OC. Chapter One is my entry for the Writers Anonymous Halloween Challenge.


**Hey guys! You've probably read the author's note on my profile. If not, then please read it quickly and come back here afterwards. Done? Okay, those updates might take a while 'cuz I was working on this, my entry for the Writers Anonymous Halloween Challenge. Expect me to start writing Him and update Her and Sacrifices. With that, here's my entry. Shoutout to my friend Nyx for giving me the idea for this. Enjoy!**

 **...**

It was the middle of the night, the night before Halloween in fact, and 29-year-old Evelyn couldn't sleep.

Halloween had always been Evie's favorite holiday. She loved everything about it, from the festive decorations, to the scary stories told around the bonfire, to the delicious treats. She had, in fact, spent nearly the whole day making last-minute preparations for the All Hallows' Day Festival of their small town, which was to be held the next day, and had thoroughly worn herself out. She had gone to bed, expecting sleep to come quickly. But it didn't.

It wasn't excitement that kept her up, as one might think. It was more of a feeling in the pit of her stomach, akin to dread, but not quite. Something was to happen tonight. Evie could feel it.

She immediately shook the thought from her head, convincing herself that the feeling was most likely just that—a feeling.

Knowing that staying in bed was useless, Evie decided to get up and go outside to get some fresh air. She grabbed a coat and slipped on a pair of shoes. She was then greeted by the sight of her black cat, Salem, standing guard outside her room. She petted her, and Salem let out a low purr.

She went outside and took a short walk near her house. She admired the beautiful full moon and the crisp smell of fallen leaves. As she neared her house once more, she felt a cold gust of wind. She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Suddenly, the distinct screeching of bats was heard. Evie chuckled, momentarily forgetting the cold. There was a cave near her house where plenty of vampire bats resided. When she was younger, she used to sneak out with her older brother to go there. Contrary to popular belief, the bats never attacked them unless provoked. She loved to observe them at night when they were most active.

She was still wide awake, and felt oddly compelled to go to that very cave. She then decided that she might as well go check on them, as she hadn't visited in a long time.

Evie jogged towards the cave, with the moon as her guiding light. As she reached the entrance of the cave, she noticed that there was a soft orange glow coming from within it. That same hypnotic feeling washed over her and she went inside.

It was noticeably warmer inside the cave, prompting Evie to take off her coat and leave it at the entrance. As she went in deeper, the glow intensified until she traced its source, a large, glowing orb floating in what she knew to be the dead center of the cavern system, having explored and made maps as a kid. At the same time, hundreds of bats flew inside, forming a perfectly straight line, eventually lining up single file on both sides of the orb. She gasped, not because of the orb or the bats, but because of the cat standing in front of it, one she had known since childhood.

"Hello, Evie."

"Salem?! Wh-what are you doing here? A-and what's going on?" she said, clearly shocked. She clutched the blue necklace her brother had given her for her 8th birthday. It had always made her feel like he was there with her and given her an amazing amount of extra courage, and this was no exception. She forced herself to calm down and breathe. She started to feel better, although that didn't explain the talking cat.

Feeling slightly more confident, she said, "Salem, please, what's going on?"

The cat replied, "Listen, Evie, we don't have much time. The Man in the Moon has chosen _you_ to be the next spirit of Halloween. The Boogeyman, Pitch Black, is out there, and MiM needs _your_ help."

"Me? But what can I do?"

"Evelyn, you have _amazing_ potential. We can help you unlock it. All you need to do is grab that orb. The Guardians of Childhood have merely weakened him, but this orb, a combination of our powers, will give you all that you need to help us defeat the Nightmare King and his forces _for good_. Do you trust me?"

Evie thought for a moment. "Why should I trust you? For all I know, you're leading me into a trap!"

"You can take my word for it, or not. It's your choice," she replied, sighing. "But either way, we _need_ you, Evie. Look into your heart. Do you _really_ think I'm a bad guy?"

Evie thought back to all the times she spent with Salem, from the time she found her outside their house when she was twelve, to the times she stayed by Evie's side and kept her company after her parents died. Evie looked at Salem.

"Salem, I trust you."

And she grabbed the orb.

As the light surrounded and _changed_ her, she could've sworn she heard a voice in her head, loud and clear.

" _You have done well, Evelyn. You shall now be forever known as Evie Hallows, Spirit of Halloween."_

That was all she heard before she lost consciousness completely.

 **...**

Meanwhile, Pitch Black watched everything unfold from the shadows. He had felt her fear, even if just for a moment, and boy, it was _delicious_.

His mood quickly turned sour as she gained courage. He scowled. He already had enough on his plate with those darned Guardians, and now he had to deal with her?!

He had spent years attempting to vanquish Jackie Lantern alone, but he now realized that there were more variables added to this particular equation.

He retreated back to the lair he had recently built and tried to come up with a plan, with little success.

Scowling, he went outside to vent his frustration. He then noticed a chameleon camouflage itself, wait for an insect victim, and quickly flick out its tongue to capture said victim. This gave him an idea.

Pitch smirked. He would get that Halloween brat soon enough.

 _I will get you, Evie Hallows._

…

 **P.S. Has anyone noticed that there are so many female Halloween spirits in the RoTG fandom named Eve, Eva, Evy Hallows or some other variation? Does it have to do with the 'eve' portion of All Hallows' Eve? I mean, Evie was originally named Eva (short for Evangeline) until I found that it was a tad bit overused.**

 **P.P.S. Oh, and sorry about the sloppy cover. I was kinda rushing to finish everything. Just...just ignore her hands.**

 **P.P.P.S. Did any of you get that Gravity Falls reference?**


End file.
